


Home is Behind

by khazadqueen (ama)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Genre: Blind Thranduil, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Dad Thranduil, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ama/pseuds/khazadqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thranduil says goodbye as Legolas sets out for Rivendell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home is Behind

He walks to the edge of the woods with Legolas. It is farther than he usually goes—farther than he has gone since he last left the forest, when there was a battle to be fought. Legolas protests, arguing that he is not a child and needs no such supervision, and Thranduil has to hide his annoyance, because he is perfectly aware that his son's impatience is his own fault. The prince has never set out on so far a journey on his own; he was born under the leaves of Eryn Lasgalen, and so he has remained. Thranduil could not bear send his son away, not when the shadow grew ever darker and his power waned and Legolas had his mother’s laugh. But Legolas was part of the guard that had let the creature escape, and he insists on taking responsibility for such a mistake. It is an honorable choice, and one that Thranduil cannot deny without admitting that he thinks his son is incompetent, which would be a falsehood and a cruelty.

And so he accompanies him to the boundaries of their kingdom, and stands in the sunlight that filters through the leaves. It is a pale sun, lost behind clouds and only bright enough for Thranduil to see dim shadows within it. He does not _need_ to see Legolas; in the brightest sunlight, in blazing fire, there could be no sense truer than the knowledge he holds. He knows the beat of his son’s heart and the pace of his breath, and he reaches forward to tuck an errant lock of hair behind Legolas’s ear. The prince bows his head, and Thranduil bestows a kiss on his brow.

“By your leave, my lord,” Legolas murmurs in his voice like the slide of a stream over polished gems.

“Go, son of the Greenwood, and may your journey be swift and safe,” Thranduil says with all the grace and dignity that the millennia have granted him. But his hand has fallen to Legolas’s shoulder and will not let go. He is afraid. He can _feel_ the darkness creeping closer, and he knows that the rest of the world is so besieged, and every instinct he has rails against letting his child out of his grasp. “Come back, ion,” he hisses suddenly, in a voice that sounds like anger.

He is caught off guard when Legolas embraces him—tightly, quickly, his arms looping around his ribcage and his head tucked under Thranduil’s chin like a child’s.

“I will, ada,” he promises lowly. He draws back and drops a feather-light kiss to Thranduil’s scarred cheek, and then his voice becomes merry. “Imladris is not a perilous destination, and I doubt that the road there will be much so.”

“No,” Thranduil agrees, but his head is aching and he lifts his fingers to his temple. “But the road back… something lurks beyond my grasp. I do not think the journey will be easy. Keep your eyes open and an arrow notched.”

“Eyes and ears and nose, for good measure,” Legolas says. His companions—one his friend, and the rest older advisors that Thranduil has chosen to keep him safe—shift their weight and murmur amongst themselves, eager to be off. “Farewell, my king and father,” Legolas says as he draws back.

“Farewell, my son.”

Thranduil stretches out his arm in a graceful goodbye and stares after the retreating shadows.


End file.
